Seven Principles for Building Referrals

Derived from : John Jantsch, The Referral Engine
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What makes you blow someone elses trumpet? What makes you refer someone or not? Where do you get most of your business from? If it’s referrals, do you have a method for making this happen or is it ad-hoc? It’s time to consider referrals as a lead generation system. And, here’s seven principles to build it upon…

1 It’s in your brain…

We’re physiologically wired to make referrals. For most of us, the part of the brain called the hypothalamus gets a little buzz every time we do good for others.

2 Build Social Capital

Helping other people is the basis of living together as a community. Referrals started out as a survival mechanism. Now they help us build relationships and they’re a form of social currency.

3 Manage The Risk

Our reputation is on the line when we toot another person or business. The size of the risk depends on the situation. It’s at least as great as the risk we take when we make a purchase.

4 Be Remarkable

It’s much easier to refer a remarkable business than a boring one because it’s more likely we’ll naturally talk about it. ‘Hey, did you hear about the…’

5 Develop Consistency

Securing referrals is a long term game. That’s because it takes consistency to build trust. And referrals are based on being able to repeat the result.

6 Trust Matters

The most important reason someone does or doesn’t make a referral is the level of trust. The higher the price and the more important the need, the more that trust matters.

7 Implement Systems

Marketing is a set of systems and processes. And, to avoid personally asking for a referral, you can design the situation to ask for you. For example, offer a 2 for 1 coupon that let’s a customer share your service with a friend.
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